Covid-19 Update:
We are slowly re-opening different aspects of the site, including Grow, Cook, Eat and the community garden.
For updates, sign-up to our mailing list
Get in touch: community@kindling.org.uk
Located just a mile east of Stockport town centre, Woodbank Memorial Park is home to Woodbank Community Food Hub – an urban horticulture hub co-ordinated by the Kindling Trust, that joins up inclusive community gardening with commercial organic food production.
It’s the size of one and a half football pitches, and includes several large polytunnels for under-cover veg growing as well as three field blocks, apple trees and a community garden. It is a place to collect fresh organic veg bags delivered by the Veg Box People, who make sure farmers get regular demand and a fair price for their produce, so they can keep doing what they do best- growing great veg.
FINDING US
The Community Food Hub can be reached by bike, bus and car. Find us on Google Maps.
Woodbank Community Food Hub, Park Lane, Woodbank Park, SK1 4JS
From Stockport Bus Station you can catch the 314 which runs every 10 minutes. Get off on Hall St by junction with Turncroft Lane, then it’s a short walk down Park Lane into Woodbank Park.
The Woodbank Park car park can be found at:
Turncroft Lane
Offerton
Stockport
SK1 4JR
53.407112
-2.134405
Panel 1
We are now a Veg Box People collection point, that means you can order and collect a bag of organic locally grown veg from the site and other growers.
Veg Box People are a partnership of local organic farmers and you….
Convenient – Weekly or Fortnightly bags available for collection every Thursday.
Fresh – Most of our veg is grown within 50 Miles of Manchester. It’s picked to order, often just hours before it appears in your box, so it’s super fresh. Some of the produce comes from the site itself!
Affordable – Our veg boxes come in four different sizes.
Sign up to Veg Box People online to order your first bag.
Panel 2
Community garden sessions are slowly getting going again, but we are not yet open to new gardeners. Sign up for updates to find out when we are back.
Every Monday 10am-4pm the site is open for anyone to come and care for the community garden space (gloves and all equipment provided).
It is a newly cultivated area for everyone to enjoy, learn and benefit from. Whether you are a total beginner to gardening, or a seasoned allotmenteer you are very welcome! Just turn up and say hello.
The garden includes a poly tunnel for under cover growing (tomatoes!), accessible raised beds, dozens of veg beds, a fruit cage, a small orchard, a herb garden and areas for wildlife.
The facilities cabin is wheelchair accessible. We are in the process of developing the growing spaces to make them more accessible. This has included the creation of raised beds and the wood chipping of pathways. Please get in touch if you have any questions about accessibility.
Not free on a Monday? Our Land Army volunteer days provide opportunities to get involved in gardening and food growing at Woodbank on other days of the week. Visit The Kindling Trust website, or give us a call for more information.
Panel 3
The hub is co-ordinated by The Kindling Trust, a Greater Manchester social enterprise using food to create social and environmental change.
A collection of organisations, including Kindling, are working together on the site to make it a hub for local food, with current activities including:
- Community events: open days and outdoors events (in the past we have bird watching sessions, bat walks, and wild food foraging forays)
- Glebelands City Growers – A small market garden business which produces organic salad and veg for sale in Greater Manchester shops and cafes. They grow on two sites, in some of the poly tunnels here at Woodbank, the other in Sale, Trafford.
- FarmStart – A training programme for new growers wanting to expand into commercial organic veg growing, run by ourselves at The Kindling Trust.
Panel 4
The one and a half acre site was previously a Council plant nursery, run by the Parks Department. It closed in 2011 and a large part of the site lay unused until 2015, when the Council partnered with us – The Kindling Trust – as part of Feeding Stockport to bring in a range of new activities and organisations.
The ambitious partnership included 16 different stakeholders and was made possible through the work of Feeding Stockport, and the willingness of Stockport Council to work towards becoming a Sustainable Food City.
The nursery fits into Kindling’s overall mission to transform our food system into one which is fairer, healthier for people, and better for the environment.
Stockport's urban horticultural hub co-ordinated by the kindling trust 